Lester

»Anything else?« Only when hearing the man's voice, Lester realized that he was still standing at the door.

»No, sorry. Thank you.« He turned around to leave and was surprised that Jonathan was nowhere to be seen. Finding a good spot to watch something without being seen. A spot you can act from. Lester was glad for the overlap of expertise between this and is usual activities. He made his way back across the street, focusing on the facade of the hospital and was glad to have a task that was not about beating someone up.

»Get out of the way.« Lester stopped when hearing the voice. He looked to the left, to the right and saw a rider approach. He raised his hands in an apology and hurried off the street. Now standing right below the windows, he soon felt pain creep into his neck. But he saw what he needed to see. There was a window every couple of feet. Presumably one in every room. But which one was the best to wait behind? That would depend on where the kidnapper would come from, which meant splitting up. Could Jonathan take a room of his own? He wasn't quite as naive and useless as he had first thought. But still. He probably couldn’t.

Lester went inside and looked for Dorothy, which was easy because she was in the lobby, where she always seemed to be. »What do you work here as?«, he asked after he approached her.

»I am a nurse. Haven’t I told you that?«

»Maybe.« He cleared his throat. »Can you show me the rooms above the entrance, please?«

»Of course.« She walked away almost as quick as Jonathan had. After multiple dark corridors and steep stairways, they ended up right above where they had started. But the wide and friendly entry hall had changed into one of many long hallways with door after door leaving from either side. Dorothy opened two of them. Lester thanked her and walked into the first one. He looked at the straw poking out of what was supposed to be a mattress, at the scratched up table and hard wooden chair. Without the sun coming in through the window it would have looked depressing. Now it just looked empty. Lester laughed at himself. After one night at Jonathan's, he had lost all his appreciation for the reasonable. There had been countless nights where he would have given everything for a room like this.

»We always try to…« Lester jumped at the voice of Dorothy, not expecting her to still stand behind him. »I’m sorry.«, she said. »All I was gonna say is, that we try to make the rooms nicer than this whenever someone’s staying in them.« Lester just nodded, still having the picture of Emely sitting in a room, not unlike this one, freshly on his mind. He went to the window and looked down. You could hurt your ankle from landing wrong. But it wasn’t that difficult of a jump. For him at least.

He went into the other similarly furnished room and looked down as well. The windows were at either side of the entrance, where the people had been left. Lester sighed. He didn't like giving Jonathan a room of his own. But being at the wrong one could mean missing the kidnapper. And that was the bigger risk.

Jonathan

Jonathan came back to the hospital, to find Lester standing in a depressing looking room. He sat down on the chair and told him about what he had arranged. The owl would be to the north, the dog to the west and the cat to the east. After he had finished, Lester explained his part of the plan, and then they both went into their rooms.

For the first half hour, Jonathan stood at the window, ready to react instantly. After that, he sat on the bed. There would be time, he said to himself. Just one direction the abductor could come from and plenty of time between the meowing and the jump. A bit later he lay down.

He jumped out of bed, what felt like minutes later, but may have been hours. Jonathan went to the window, opened it and took a deep breath of the cold, fresh air. But only a few minutes later, he was fighting sleep again. He started walking in circles next, which helped a bit but didn’t seem to pass the time. After a big groan, he walked out into the hallway to Lester's door. He hesitated with his hand on the handle. It was the right thing to do. He would make his partner see that. Jonathan took a deep breath and entered.

»Did something happen?« Lester jumped up from his sitting position below the open window.

»No, it’s just… It’s just really boring. I can barely stay awake. And honestly. If we hear the cat, how long does it take to walk over? Five seconds?«

Lester sighed. »Five seconds could be important. Besides what do you want me to do about your sleepiness?«

»Talk to me. Have at least my brain engaged.« Jonathan sat down on the bed before Lester could answer. »I left the doors open. And he will carry someone, so he will be slow. It will be fine. Besides, the chance that he is coming from there is lower anyway.«

»Fine.«

»Great. Ok then. I have been wondering what you did before this.«

Lester sat down below the window again. »My last real job was as a baker.«

»A noble profession. More difficult than you would think. And that does explain your ease with the night.« He leaned against the wall. »What did make you give it up?«

»There was a fire.«, Lester said staring into space.

Jonathan stayed silent for a while. He hoped to hear more, but when his partner didn't speak again, he moved on. »What have you been doing since?«

»Just some meaningless jobs here and there. Nothing worth mentioning really. What about you? Ever had a job?«

Jonathan lay down, crossing his fingers behind his head. »No. And that is something I have been regretting more and more lately. I’ve spent my life on studies, which gave me a lot. For a while. But I have been feeling the pull into the real world.« He paused for a moment, smiling. »But now I’m here.«

Barking made them both jump up. »He’s coming.«, Jonathan said, his voice higher than before.

»He is.« Lester stood up beside the window, pressed against the wall, looking out into the dark street. »Go stand over there.« He pointed to the other side of the window. »I’m going to jump first. I will count down before I go.« Lester spread three fingers out and put one after the other down to form a fist. »Then you will stand in front of the window and look down. If I got him, you will go slowly, hanging onto the window and letting yourself fall from there. If I did not get him, you will jump and try to put him down.« Lester looked at him. »You ok with that?«

Jonathan nodded.

»Good. Then we wait now.«